OLEK
BONDONIO
Olek Bondonio is the new artisanal face of the Langhe and the current owner of Cascina Berchialla. A convinced winemaker with clear ideas, Olek manages this very small business in the heart of Barbaresco, in the renowned and historic area of Roncagliette, one of the most suitable areas of the entire denomination. The winery has its roots in 1800 when the grandfather was at the helm of the farmhouse who cultivated the vines and gave the grapes to one of the founding fathers of Barbaresco, namely Angelo Gaja. Olek entered the scene in 1999 when, after graduating in Turin in Agriculture and Oenology and having traveled the world to learn the secrets of the job (in the meantime he also discovered that he had a strong passion for surfing, snowboarding and skateboarding), his grandfather divides the estate between him and his father.
DEUS
EX MACHINA
OLEK BONDONIO SELECTION
Unique wines of their kind, because they blend the historic Langhe tradition with a modern and artisanal vision.
Olek founded his farm in 2005 in Cascina La Berchialla which has been owned by his family in Barbaresco for more than two hundred years. Before returning home and making the fruits of his land yield, he successfully juggled snowboarding, but followed the passion that the landscapes of the farmhouse and the passion of his grandfather Riccardo inspired in him since he was a child: he first studied agriculture and oenology at universities, gaining experience in Bordeaux, Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Upon returning home he feels ready to give his own imprint to the art of making wine, with his wealth of studies and experiences abroad, but with the awareness and
strength of the Langa peasant tradition. He immediately avoided the use of pesticides in the vineyard, selected the grapes in summer to keep yields low, made wine without the aid of selected yeasts but only with little sulphur, no filtration at bottling: he obtained precise and round wines, without smudges but sanguine and sometimes austere, in the case of the King of the Langhe, Nebbiolo. He manages two hectares of property in the municipality of Barbaresco, his cru is Roncagliette. For a few years he has rented another two hectares between the municipality of Neive and Alba and has therefore started bottling the generic Barbaresco, and separately labeling his cru, the Roncagliette.
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